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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27047182">It's Quiet Uptown</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbandonedQuiche/pseuds/AbandonedQuiche'>AbandonedQuiche</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Undertale (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Tragedy, Character Study (?), Gen, Genocide Route Frisk (Undertale), Undertale Genocide Route, rating is for a few swears</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:34:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,202</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27047182</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbandonedQuiche/pseuds/AbandonedQuiche</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Sans is just a bit too late.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Papyrus &amp; Sans (Undertale)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>It's Quiet Uptown</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sans was running. Probably harder than he ever had in his life. Harder than he’d ever thought he’d have to.</p><p>       <i> “Oh come on, Paps! There’s nothing better you’d have me do? Besides, I have a gig at the MTT Resort tonight, I gotta be rested up-” </i><br/>
<i>“No arguing, Sans! Sentry duty is important! You can’t just skip because you ‘don’t feel like it’! What would Undyne think?”</i><br/>
<i>“Well, do you really think there’s a chance that any human could possibly get through that gate you built?”</i><br/>
<i> “You make a good point, Sans… that gate is quite impenetrable… still! It can’t hurt to have caution. Off you go!”</i><br/>
<i>“Man, you’re my least favorite brother.”</i></p><p>	He would teleport, but he knew he was used up, felt exhaustion coursing through his veins in place of magic. Turns out spending all day blinking yourself all over Snowdin just to find a living being took a bit of a toll on your body. Who knew.</p><p>	<i>“Grillby? Innkeeper lady? Dammit- Jerry? C’mon, you’ve gotta be around here somewhere- please- </i>somebody-”</p><p>	Nobody came. As far as he knew, there were only three remaining people in the whole forest- himself, Papyrus, and that kid. Soon, though, there would only be two. The kid had to go. Sans 

felt a bit bad going back on a promise, but what were the rules when the person who’d had him make it was gone forever? </p><p>	<i>For all his griping, Sans knows that sentry duty isn’t so bad. When you’re in good company, any chore becomes bearable.<br/>
As he approaches the door hidden deep in Snowdin Forest, he calls out. “Knock, knock!”<br/>
No response comes.<br/>
Sans blinks. It’s not like her to be late. He calls out again, louder this time, rapping his knuckles on the freezing wood. “Knock, knock!”<br/>
Sans is only met with silence. He shrugs, sitting down on the ground, cross-legged. He can wait.<br/>
And he does. For twenty minutes, he waits for the answering knock, the sense of wrongness swelling in his chest as he does. It shouldn’t be a big deal. Maybe she’s just busy, maybe she’s tired. 

He’s not one to judge. Still, he can’t shake the feeling that something is really- <i>really-</i> off. He knocks again, as hard as he can. It hurts a bit.<br/>
As the echoes fade, the silence rushes through the trees like a riptide, trying to sweep him away. He finally realizes what’s wrong.<br/>
The fine white powder he’s sitting in isn’t quite cold enough to be snow.</i></p><p>	It was weird, wasn’t it? After everything, Sans still didn’t want to hurt them. It was an aversion that went far beyond the implications of a broken promise- he <i>cared</i> about the kid. 

Sans knew of alternate timelines, knew that there were many. Perhaps they’d been friends at one time.</p><p>	<i>Sans laughs as Undyne hoists Papyrus, Alphys, and Frisk onto her shoulders all at once. Frisk looks on, bemused, as Sans desperately tries to explain to Toriel how to include links to 

videos in her texts. Frisk teaches Sans the constellations.</i></p><p>	Still, barely-there memories don’t erase the dust settling on the ground, and who else could it have been? Sans is nearly to Snowdin Town, near the bridge where he last saw the kid. He 

doesn’t stop, doesn’t have enough time to, but seeing his and the kid’s footprints there solidifies their guilt in his mind.</p><p>	<i>Sans watches Frisk’s retreating figure, feeling more rattled than he can ever remember feeling. He’d pulled out all the stops; totally badass threat, hollowed-out eye sockets, he’d even 

remembered how to speak without a Voice to get the full effect. Even still, Frisk’s stoic demeanor freaks him out, and he can’t shake the feeling that he’s the one being threatened.</i></p><p>	<i>Yeah, it was definitely the kid</i>, he thought as he passed the broken shell of the shop, the snow around him dispersed with broken glass. No doubt about it. Now, if only he could find where 

they went…<br/>
Suddenly, the air around Sans starts getting warmer, the ground spongier. He catches the distinct scent of petrichor. Waterfall? It is, but it <i>couldn't</i> be. There must be more Snowdin to search, because this <i> couldn't</i> be it. He hasn't searched all of Snowdin, he knows he hasn't. If he had, he would have found the kid. If he had, he would have seen Papyrus. </p><p>Which he hasn’t. He hasn’t seen Papyrus since their last interaction, not once.<br/>
</p><p>Sans starts breathing faster, too fast. It’s fine. He’s fine. Papyrus is nearly a fully-trained member of the Royal Guard, he can handle a freaky little eight-year-old with a stick. Maybe that didn’t explain how they’d gotten past the lady in the Ruins, and past the dogs, and past all the other monsters in Snowdin, but Papyrus is different. He can't be gone, he's too important. He means too much. People like that survive in the end, they always do. Sans tries to convince his body that, tells his heart that Papyrus is still alive so it will stop beating so <i>fucking hard-</i><br/>
A torn boot on the ground, soaked through and frozen solid.</p><p>	<i>“Oh come on, Paps! There’s nothing better you’d have me do? Besides, I have a gig at the MTT Resort tonight, I gotta be rested up-”</i></p><p>	The plastic shards of a shattered Battle Body, finally defeated</p><p>        <i>“Well, do you really think there’s a chance that any human could possibly get through that gate you built?” </i></p><p>        A tattered red scarf, half-buried under the sparkling snow. </p><p>        <i>“Man, you’re my least favorite brother.”</i></p><p>        Sans collapses, swiftly, silently. His mind empties as the stress and the terror and the excruciating pain of losing the person he loves most in the world explodes out of him in a bright 

flash of light that flattens the trees around him and melts the snow he kneels on. It incinerates the scarf too, he knows it does, and everything already hurts so much he almost doesn’t care, but in reality there’s 

always room for more grief and it's <i>agonizing</i>, it rips him to shreds, and all he can think is that his last words to his brother had been petty and spiteful. <i>The coolest brother in the 

world</i>, that’s what he said to everyone he knew, right? Why hadn’t he ever said it to Papyrus? Even when he thought he had nothing before, he had his brother, and after finally losing 

everything Sans wonders how he could possibly have ever needed anything more. Now all that's left is pain so deep he thinks he might dissolve from it.<br/> </p><p> Finally, after a time, a coherent thought emerges in Sans' mind:<i>That’s not true.</i> He still has one thing, and that one thing is a burning, white-hot anger, so much of it it’s a wonder he didn’t notice it before. He rises from his place on the ground, dips a finger in the 

ashes of a scarf that once belonged to his brother. He still has something to live for, even in lieu of Papyrus, and despite that the remains of his friends are now swirling so thick he thinks he 

could choke on them, he knows one thing clearly: promises be damned, this kid is dead where they stand.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>AAAAND I'm back after over a year. In that time I could have written for Good Omens or Six of Crows or The Magnus Archives or even Stellar Firma, but no. I come back to you bearing even more Undertale angst. Yipee.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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